Let Me Make Things All Right
by ThatGuyWithHats
Summary: After giving it some thought, Laney finally tells Corey how she feels, but how will he react? What will they have to go through? How will things end for the two? Why is Larry involved in all of this? Rated T for later in the story. Corey x Laney
1. Chapter 1

**Grojband and its characters belong to Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton**

**Authors note: Hello there. This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you enjoy reading it. Anyway, on with the story**

***No Pov***

It was a regular day in the town of Peaceville, it was the middle of Autumn, and the leaves on the trees were turning a beautiful mix of orange and red leaves and the air was fresh and cool around town.

It was still early in the day, people were still waking up, and it was quiet. One of the residents of the town, Laney Penn, was still in her sleep, dreaming.

"Beep Beep Beep!" the noise of her alarm clock rang loud, filling the room with high pitched noise. The alarm was soon silenced by Laney slamming her hand on the snooze button. The young, 15 year old girl got up from her bed, annoyed that she had to wake up so suddenly, but joy soon filled her heart as she realized what day it was.

Today was a Saturday, which meant a variety of things, no school, no homework, and it meant she got to spend time with her band mates. Specifically, her long time crush, Corey Riffen. Yes, it was true, she has had a crush on him since they were little, but there was no way she was going to tell him, at least, not until the time was right.

***Laney's Pov***

I looked over to the small framed picture on my nightstand. It was a picture of me with the band when we had our first gig, that was the day that our road to stardom started. Next to the picture, was my favorite necklace. I went over to the nightstand and picked up the necklace to examine it closely.

It was a regular, thin, silver chain necklace. It was pretty, but what really mattered to me was the pendant. The pendant was in the shape of a heart and was inscribed with the words, "Best Friends Forever C.R. and L.P."

I remember. This was a gift from Corey. He got it to represent our long term friendship. He also got one for himself that is exactly the same as mine. Him and I make sure to wear them everyday. The necklace meant so much to me, I knew that there was no way that I was ever going to lose it.

I quickly took a shower, made myself presentable and made my way downstairs, making sure not to forget the necklace. My mom was down stairs in the kitchen waiting with a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice, thank you mom.

"Good morning Laney," my mother sang as cheerfully as a bird.

"Good morning mom, thanks for the breakfast," I said while taking the plate to the kitchen table.

"So Laney, you seem happy today. Going to spend the day with the band today, or are you going to flirt with Corey?"

I nearly choked on my food when she asked that. My mom knew about my crush on Corey, she and my father were the only people that I have told. Either way, it was still embarrassing to talk to them about it. Especially my father, who must have still been asleep, thankfully.

"Mom, you can't just ask questions like that, especially when I'm eating. I nearly choked," I said.

"Can't a mother be curious about her daughter's love life? I mean, you're already fifteen," she asked jokingly while taking the seat next to me.

"Anyway, it's not like he likes me back, so it doesn't matter" I said. A look of shock appeared on my mothers face.

"Laney Penn! Don't you dare talk like that, it's that kind of thinking that will get you nowhere, you have to think positively!"

"I'm sorry mom. You're right," I said while putting the dishes in the dishwasher and sitting back down at the table. My mom took a seat closer to me.

"Listen Laney, no matter what happens between you and Corey, you two will still be best friends. Don't bring yourself down, and if you really like him, you should just tell him. Even if you don't get the answer you want, you'll still get an answer, and that is pretty good too." My mothers words of encouragement made me smile, she always knew what to say.

"I know mom, and I'm trying. It's just that Corey is different. I care about him a lot, and if there is a chance for us, I really don't want to mess it up. But I get what you mean, the sooner I tell him, the sooner I'll know," I said as I looked down at my hands, avoiding eye contact.

"Laney, I know how you feel, how do you think it was between me and your father," My mother said and paused to reminisce about the story.

"I was the most popular girl in school, and your father was... a nerd, but he was definitely the sweetest and cutest nerd. One day, he worked up the courage to ask me out, and I said 'yes', and I've been happy ever since," she finished. She looked really happy to talk about her high school days.

"I swear mom, you've told me that story a thousand times, and each time, it's still a cute story." She giggled at the remark.

I got up and looked at the clock. It was around 10:00 already, I was usually at Corey's by 8:00, and practice started at 9:00. I was the bands manager after all.

"Wow I have to go. see you later mom." I then made my way to the front door and opened it, but before I left, I turned back to my mother. "Also, thanks for the talk mom, it really helped."

"Anytime Laney. Next time, we can talk about grandchildren, I'm not getting any younger you know," she said. I could feel my face turning red.

"Mom, that's embarrassing!" I exclaimed. My mom then started laughing hysterically and I couldn't help but laugh too.

I closed the door and started running towards Corey's house.


	2. Chapter 2

***Corey's Pov***

"Where is she?" I said while pacing back and forth in the garage. "She's never this late for practice, she should be here by now."

At this point, I was getting impatient and angry. But most of all, I was incredibly worried.

The twins, Kin and Kon, were sitting on the couch watching TV as they also waited for Laney to arrive so we could start band practice.

"Relax Corey, I'm sure she has a reason for being late," Kon said, trying to reason with me.

"Yeah Corey, I mean, it's not like she got kidnapped on the way over here, got beat up and is being tortured and the only hope in her mind is the hope that we save her before she gets killed or that the relief of death reaches her before she endures even more pain. I mean come on, that's crazy," Kin said in one breath, adding to Kon's comment. My heart began to race as the thought entered in my head.

"That thought hadn't even crossed my mind! That's it, I'm going to go look for her." I then made my way to the garage door, and opened it. But at the entrance, was the exact person we were waiting for.

"Core, I... can explain... I..." The red headed girl looked tired, she probably ran the whole way here, she was panting like crazy. Her house wasn't a long ways away, but it was still exhausting to run non-stop.

"Sit down Lanes, you look exhausted." The twins got off the couch to let Laney sit down, and after a few minutes, she regained her breath and could speak normally again.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I must have over slept. The alarm clock didn't wake me up on the first ring," Laney explained to us.

"Don't worry about it Lanes, I know you would never forget about the band," I said while patting my friends back.

"Maybe you're just tired from school, you should really take better care of your sleep hours, Laney. You had us worried and stuff, especially Corey, he was freaking out," Kin said.

My eyes must be playing tricks on me, because I thought I saw Laney blush. I ignored the thought, it was probably just in my head.

"So what if I was worried?" I started saying as I climbed onto the Grojband stage. "It's a leader's job to worry about his crew. We are like a truck, a truck filled with awesome music, and if there is something wrong with one of the tires, then we stop and fix it." my friends gave me a small round of applause.

"Nice speech Corey," Laney said with her usual sarcasm.

"What can I say, I practice," I said while reaching for my guitar. "Speaking of practice, are we ready to rock out or what?!"

"Heck yeah, we're going to rock!" the rest of Grojband cheered. We all grabbed our respective instruments and started to practice.

**-After Band Practice-**

***No Pov***

It was 3:00 and the teens were all relaxing since practice was over. Kin and Kon were playing Ping-Pong, Laney was reading her book, and Corey was lying on the stage, bored out of his mind.

"Lanes, help me, I'm so bored," Corey complained. Laney closed her book to help Corey from his distress.

"Well, we could watch a movie. Are you guys up for it?" She said, asking the twins.

"Yeah, but which movie?" Kon asked.

Kin got up and looked through the pile of movies to select one. "Hey, we should watch this again," Kin said while holding up a movie, _The Gods of Rocklympus_.

"I like the book better than the movie, and didn't we watch that movie last week?" Laney asked, not wanting to watch the movie again.

"Yeah but, it's still the best movie we have," Kin said while inserting the disc into the old DVD player.

As much as Laney wanted to stay, she also really didn't want to watch the movie again. So instead, she decided to pack up and to go home till the next day.

"Well I'm off guys, see you tomorrow." With that being said, Laney left.

Corey was a little disappointed that she was leaving early, but he understood why. He didn't want to see the movie again either, but doing nothing was a way worse option.

Besides, he still had tomorrow to be with his band.

"Hey guys, do you think Laney acts a bit weird sometimes?" Corey asked the twins.

"What do you mean, she seems just the same as always to me," Kin replied as he grabbed the remote to start the movie.

"Well, sometimes, when I talk to her, she stutters and her face turns all red. Is that normal, or is that just a girl thing?"

Kin smiled as a devious idea popped into his mind, "Sounds to me like Laney might have a thing for you, Corey."

"What?! No. That's crazy!" Corey said, objecting the statement.

"Is it really that crazy, Corey? The way you describe it, it would make perfect sense," Kon said, supporting his brothers thought.

"Also, you two would look cute together, don't you think?" Kin said, making sure to poke fun at Corey.

Corey started to think about it to himself. Had he really not noticed it until now? Maybe it was the lack of recent gigs that was letting Corey finally notice this, either way, this was confusing.

The twins decided that they shouldn't test Corey further, they didn't want to make him angry. Corey was a very chill and laid back guy, there were only a few times they had seen him angry, and they didn't want to add to the list.

"There's no way she likes me, we're just friends," Corey said in his head, reassuring himself.

Although he was content with his reasoning, he continued to ponder the possibility. "What do I do if she does like me like that?"


	3. Chapter 3

******Authors note:** Glad to see some of you are the enjoying the story so far. If you think there is something I need to work on, feel free to tell me. Now on with the story

***No Pov***

Laney decided that it was too early to return home, there wasn't much for her to do at home. So instead, she went to one of her favorite places in town. The Peaceville music store. They had everything there, from what's hot and new, to retro music. By how often she went there, you would think she worked there. In fact, why didn't she?

The music store was her favorite place to buy things that the band needed, they always had a great selection of equipment. Except for that one time that Corey bought a dead raising Amp.

Laney took a quick look around, but there was no new music and nothing worth buying. "Hey, anything new today?" she asked the cashier, who only shock her head. Laney decided to leave since, one, she didn't have money, and two, there was nothing of interest there.

She was making her way to the exit when she ran into someone familiar. The Newman's bassist, Larry Nepp.

This can't be good.

***Laney's Pov***

I was making my way to the exit when I ran into Larry. Great, it was just my luck to run into him now. At least his band wasn't here with him either.

Larry and I weren't exactly on good terms, being part of each others rival band and all. His band and mine were usually par with each other, sometime Grojband was better, and sometimes the Newmans were better, and we both hated it.

"What are you doing here, Larry?" I asked, already annoyed by him just being here.

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?' It's a music store, what else would I be doing, I'm checking out the music." He was just as unhappy to see me as I was. "Why are you here without you band?" Larry asked.

"I don't have to answer that, besides, I have to get home," I said to avoid answering him. I didn't want to talk to him anymore than I already did, so I started making my way to the exit, but as I was going, Larry said something that made me stop in my tracks.

"Well, I would think you would at least be here with your crush, Corey."

I couldn't have heard correctly. Right?

"You... you know?" I asked, already afraid of the answer.

"Well, you're not really great at hiding it, I'm honestly surprised no one else can see it," Larry said. I just stood there, in silence, frozen. I felt like I was going to throw up. This was a horrible situation to be in. Your worst enemy knowing your deepest secret, and him hating you.

"Please, don't tell him," I pleaded. I didn't know why I was pleading, it's not like it's going to help.

"I wasn't going to, it's not worth my time to tell him," Larry replied.

"Wait, you're not? Why not?" I asked, almost shouting.

"I have nothing to gain from it. And I would have thought you'd be happy to know your secret was safe, or do you want me to tell."

"No! I am relieved, it's just that I'm surprised, is all. Considering we're enemies, I thought you would be eager to tell." We both made our way out of the music store, deciding to continue the conversation outside.

"Listen, and listen closely Laney. I know what you're going through, and all I can say is that you need to tell him, and tell him soon," He said sternly.

I was so confused. Was he giving me advice? And more importantly, why was I listening to a Newman?

"The longer you wait, the harder it will be to keep this a secret, and the worse the outcome will be." Larry had an odd look in his eyes, it looked like a look of concern and worry.

"Don't forget what I said, or else I'll tell him myself. Do I make myself clear?" he asked. I only managed to nod in reply.

"Good, now then, I'm going to head home. Good luck," he said as he turned his back on me, "you're going to need it." Larry then began walking in the opposite direction I was going to go, slowly leaving my sight.

Great, now I was caught between a rock and a hard place, either confess myself, or have someone else do so, either way, I was going to have an answer sometime soon.

I began walking home with a one question stuck in my head, "what did he mean by, 'I know what you're going through?'"

**-At Laney Penn's House-**

It was evening when I got back home. Dinner was ready, so I ate with my parents. My parents asked about how my day was, my mom making sure to put focus on Corey. My mom and dad always liked teasing me about Corey. Especially my dad, sometimes he seemed to be more obsessed with it than my mom.

Yep. Weird, love crazed parents. That's them all right.

After dinner, I said good night to my parents and went upstairs into my room for the rest of night. I prepared myself for sleep and set up cloths for tomorrow.

My room was not what you would expect from someone like me, it was pink and frilly for the most part, but also decorated with poster of various bands and the Grojband logo that Corey made. I had a small TV in my room so I could check if there was anything on at the moment, but instead I decided to listen to music.

I checked my phone to see if I had any text. Which I did, a text from Corey. The boys were probably done watching the movie by now, so they were possibly busy doing something else. In fact, the twins had probably left a while ago, it was kind of late after all. Corey and I texted a little before he said he was going to sleep. With that in mind, I slowly drifted off into sleep while listening to some of my favorite music from past gigs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: I just wanted to say sorry if I don't update fast. School can pile up a lot, so that is first priority, but I will always try to update on weekends or when ever I can. So review if you want to, I really appreciate it, and have a great day.**

***Laney's Pov***

It was 3:00, Sunday afternoon. Practice was already finished, and now everyone was bored.

With nothing to do, Kin and Kon were having a staring contest, and Corey and I were watching them. Definitely not the best way to spend the weekend.

"This is boring, why are there no gigs? Is there really nothing happening in town today? This isn't normal," Corey said, clearly annoyed from the lack of gigs.

Corey was right, why wasn't anything happening today? Between evil robots, evil guitars, evil aliens, evil plants, and Trina. Peaceville is definitely a weird and dangerous place, but I guess today was an actual normal day. Weird.

"Well maybe this is a good thing. Today we can just relax. No need to rush for lyrics, no plotting against the Newmans. Just a nice, calm day," I said. "Who knows, maybe a day off is just what we need."

To be honest. It was stressful booking gigs, making sure everything was okay, and writing lyrics. So I was happy for a day off, it definitely didn't happen often enough. Especially considering all the crazy schemes that Corey gets the band into.

Corey had started writing lyrics on his own, not too long after Trina left for college, but I still had to help him if we were ever going to finish any songs in time for a gig.

"Well, I don't care if we have the day off. But there has got to be something else to do, instead of this," Kin said, referring to the staring contest.

"You blinked!" Kon shouted at his brother.

"Did not!"

The boredom must have been getting to them, they would never argue about something as pointless as this. Well, then again, they were Kin and Kon.

"Grojband! As leader, I say this calls for a trip to the Peaceville park to help sooth our nerves. Who's up for it?" Corey asked.

"Anything is better than doing nothing. I'm in, what about you guys?" I said, asking the twins

"Sorry, no can do. Today is Sunday, and you know what that means." The twins then turned to each other, looking excited, "Super Pizza Sunday at home!" the twins shouted in unison. There was no way they were going to skip 'Super Pizza Sunday,' just to go to the park.

The twins packed up their things and got ready to leave. "Bye, we'll see you two at school tomorrow," The twins said as they left, leaving me and Corey.

"Well, we better go now, we don't wanna have to walk home too late in the night," Corey said as I put on my hoodie. It was probably going to be cold later.

"So Core, have any plans for what we're going to do at the park?" I asked.

Now that the twins were gone, the park would be the perfect time to tell Corey how I felt.

"Not really, like you said, today is just a day for relaxing, and I intend to spend it well with my best friend," Corey said. It was strange seeing Corey so relaxed. He was always hyper, always had some crazy idea, always did things fast, not wanting to waste time. It was nice seeing his like this.

**-At The Peaceville Park-**

The park was beautiful today, the leaves were colorful, the air was fresh, and there was barely anyone at the park. Autumn has always been mine and Corey's favorite time of the year. It was always so refreshing, not too cold, not too hot, not too bright. It was perfect.

Corey bent down and picked up one of the red leaves. "Look Lanes, the trees have the same hair as you," Corey chuckled.

"Oh ha ha. Very funny, Core," I said as I tripped Corey, who fell into a pile of leaves. I have to admit, it was too funny not to laugh.

"Nice one," Corey said. I then felt something grab my arm. "Now it's my turn," he said as he pulled me into the mess of leaves.

We laughed as we fell into the leaves. It was just like when we were little kids. But I stopped laughing as soon as I realized that I was on top of Corey, our faces were so close to each other. I got off as quick as I could.

"Sorry about that," I said, as I started cleaning the leaves off me. I could feel my face burning up.

"Don't be, it was funny," Corey said with a smile.

We continued to walk until we got to the swings. "Hey Lanes, get on the swings, I'll push you," Corey said. As fun as they are, I didn't want to get on them. But saying no to Corey was way to hard, especially with his smile. Man, I should really work on that.

I carefully got on one of the swings. "Hey, Lanes, are you okay? You look really nervous." I guess he must have noticed.

"Yeah, it's fine, I'm just a bit scared of heights," I said. Heights weren't exactly what I was afraid of. The idea of falling was what really frightens me. What if I fell and got hurt? What if...

"Don't worry, Lanes. I won't let you fall, and if you do, I'll catch you," Corey said. If any one could always make me feel safe, it was Corey.

It was fun being on the swings. To let the air, breeze through my hair, to let myself laugh, not caring who heard, and to feel safe, knowing that my best friend wasn't going to let me be hurt, that he would be there to help me and pick me right back up. I always cherished these moments.

The only thing missing right now was Kin and Kon. But right now, that's exactly what I needed. For them not to interfere with my plans.

The rest of the visit was normal, we just talked about funny things, music, and school. You know, normal teenager stuff. The time went by fast and before we knew it, it was 7:00 and we had to go back home.

"Wow, look at the time," Corey said while looking at the time on his phone. "We better head back home, before our parents get mad. I don't want to have to do band practice via web cam."

While on our way back home, the town was starting to get darker and the street lamps were turning on to light our path. The wind had also picked up a little speed and people were already starting to go into their homes.

Strange, it's not always this dark at night and the it's generally not very windy in Peaceville. I looked up and instantly saw the reason for this. From the time that we arrived at the park to now, the sky had filled up with huge, dark rainclouds.

Although it may not be the best setting, I decided that If I was going to tell him, it had to be now. No matter how nervous I was, I had to take this leap of faith.

"Core, can we talk about something?" I asked. No more hiding.


	5. Chapter 5

***Laney's Pov***

"Core, can we talk about something?" I asked.

"Talk about what? Music, gigs, the band, school, or what?" Corey asked.

"No Core. It's something personal, not band related," I said.

"Well sure, go ahead Lanes, I'm all ears." Corey was sort of the worst person to have a crush on, considering how clueless he can be. So I knew this was going to be hard to explain. So where do I start?

"Have you ever been afraid of asking for something you want?" I asked him. He only responded with a confused look on his face, I guess I should have expected that, I was being too vague. I had to put it in words he would understand.

"I mean like... you want to play an instrument, but you're afraid that you won't be good enough for the instrument, or that someone else will get the instrument before you, so afraid that you never even try." I knew how it felt to be afraid of this, I have been, for years.

"I guess I know how that feels. It's scary, but sometimes you just have to go for it, and never look back," Corey said. I guess he didn't feel as scared as me. "So why do you want to talk about it?" Corey asked.

"Well Core, it's just that. I feel this way about someone, someone very important to me. He makes me happy, his confidence, his smile, the way he always has some crazy scheme. Everything about him, even the bad things, and I'm finding it hard to tell him how I feel," I said.

"I don't think I get what you mean. Can you explain more?" Wow, is he really this oblivious. I mean it's been bad before but not this bad.

"It's just that he's also a really close friend, and I'm afraid that if I tell him, he'll resent me for it and I'll lose what I have with him." I finished explaining.

"Well maybe you should just tell him anyway, if he doesn't like you, he's not worth it. Any guy would be lucky to be that important to a rocking girl like you, Lanes," Corey said, making my face burn up. My blush was probably hard to see because of the dark.

"Anyway Lanes, I hope it works out between you and him, whatever it is that needs to work out," Corey said as he put his hand on my shoulder. "So, tell me Lanes, who's this guy?"

"Well Core, that's the thing, the guy is...," I paused as I looked him in his eyes. "You, Corey." Corey must've been surprised by this, because he took a step back, almost as if it was out of fear.

"Me? I'm the guy? What does that mean, why am I this special person to you?" He asked cautiously.

I was trying to tell him, but I was getting nervous, I was getting scared. Dang it, I wish I was as good with my words as my mother.

"It's just that I.." The words were too hard to say, It felt like I was going to choke on them. It felt like the weight of the world were resting on these words. To me, these words did mean the world.

"I..." Why was I doing this? What will the future hold even if I confess, how will I be rewarded? Do I deserve to be rewarded? Why wasn't I ready yet, to accept my fate? I wanted to hide, I wanted to disappear, anything, just to get out of this situation.

No! No more hiding, no secrets, just the truth. If I couldn't make myself say these words, I would regret it for as long as I lived. If I couldn't tell him how I felt how could this work between us.

In the end, there's a final decision we all must make, a decision that will mean so much to us. Right now, this was my time to make or break and I couldn't look back on it anymore.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I took a deep breath as I managed to say the words that I had been holding in for so long. The words that I knew were near and dear to my heart.

"I love you, Corey."

Time stood still in that moment. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my heart, years of holding in those words, all gone with a few words.

Now it was his turn. This would all be over soon, one way or another.

**Author's note: I'm really glad you guys and gals like the story so far. Also, sorry for the short chapter, it's meant to lay the foundation for the next chapters where things finally start happening. Anyways, review if you want, I really appreciate it, and have a great day.**


	6. Chapter 6

***Laney's Pov***

"I love you, Corey"

Corey's expression changed fast from a look of confusion, to a look of shock. He was definitely surprised by this, I guess I would be too if my best friend told me they loved me. Then again, my best friend was Corey.

"What... Since when?" Corey asked.

"I always have," I said. I could tell he was having trouble comprehending this, so I gave him some time to think. There was no need to rush him. "So, how do you feel, Corey?" I asked Corey.

Corey looked at me with a sadness in his eyes, "I don't know what to say Lanes... you're my best friend, you're really awesome, you mean a lot to me too... but," Here it was, he was rejecting me.

I thought I was ready, but I guess I wasn't, I could already feel tears starting to form in my eyes, but I had to at least try to held them back, to let Corey finish.

"But love... It's just... I don't know Lanes."

Those words echoed in my head. It wasn't "no," it wasn't "yes." It was just "I don't know." I stopped to think about these words for a while. This didn't make sense to me, what did this answer?

"You don't know? How can you not know?!" I shouted in anger.

"I just don't know, Lanes," Corey said, startled by my sudden outburst.

Was this really happening? All this did was put me right back where I started, except now, Corey knew how I felt. No, this can't be happening to me!

I thought the worst thing that could happen was being rejected, but it never occurred to me that I could just end up where I was a week ago, only worse.

This was all starting to hurt my head. I held my hand up to my forehead, hoping it would somehow help sooth the pain, while I tried to gather my thoughts.

We stood there for a while, in silence. I didn't know what to do now, what to say.

"Lanes, are you okay?" Corey asked.

"Yeah Core, I'm just." I stopped myself from completing the sentence as a different thought crossed my mind. "Actually Corey... no. No, I'm not okay. You can't just say that and expect me to be okay." I could feel my body burning with rage. I have never been so angry in my life.

"I've been sure that I loved you for the past three years. I've been sure that if I was going to spend my life with anyone, it had to be with you. And I've always been sure that you would always be there for me. I guess I was wrong, seeing as how you can't even give me a simple yes or no."

"Lanes I-"

"No Corey. I'm done with you, and I'm done with these stupid emotions. I don't want anything to do with you, the stupid band or this stupid necklace anymore," I said, interrupting what he was saying. I then proceeded to remove the necklace from my neck and clench it in my hand.

"I hate you, Corey Riffen!" I shouted, still holding back my tears.

I threw my necklace to the ground, hoping to break it. Then I turned away from him and started running. I didn't care if he wanted to talk, I didn't care if he was going to chase after me. I just wanted to go home, I didn't want to talk to anyone, I wanted to go to my bed, I wanted to sleep, and to wake up to find that it was all just a dream.

Sadly. I knew this couldn't be true, this wasn't some video game that you could just restart if you messed up, this was reality, and there was no escape from your false judgment.

As I was running, it began to rain. As if things weren't already bad, now I could barely see in front of me. The rain was cold and relentless as it fell, hitting the ground with the rhythm of my feet.

It was hard to see in the dark and misty night, so it took me longer than it should have, but I managed to find my way through the neighborhood, thanks to the street lamps.

When I got home, I quickly entered my home and slammed shut the door behind me. "Laney, is that you?" I heard my dad ask. I quickly ran up stairs and ran into my room, making sure to lock the door behind me.

"Laney, open this door, please. Is there something wrong!?" I heard my dad ask as he tried to open the door.

"Honey, please, you can talk to us!" I heard my mother plead, trying to convince me to talk to them. I wasn't going to open the door no matter what, I didn't want them to see me like this.

After a while, the knocking stopped and I heard their footsteps walk away, they were probably going to their room. Hopefully they understood that I wanted to be only right now.

When I knew for certain that they were gone. I did something I didn't want to do. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I let myself cry into my bed, letting out the build up of my stress, anxiety, and fear.

I hated myself for it. I wasn't the type of girl to cry, it was too revealing, it made me feel like I was weak and vulnerable. Still, it felt good to let it all out.

Maybe I wasn't as tough as I'd like to believe, or maybe some things are just to hard to understand. Like the feeling you can only get from the person you care about the most, or the feeling of despair, of feeling hopeless.

I was always the girl who didn't let other people's hurtful words get to her, the girl who couldn't be broken, the girl who could always rely on her friends. Except for now, right now I was the girl desperately crying into her bed sheets.

I didn't cry because things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, I cried because I ran away when things got too difficult, I made this situation worse on myself. If I hadn't ran away, maybe we could have talked it out, and things would be fine. Then again, there are just too many "ifs" in this world to be certain about anything.

When I was finished crying, I got up from my bed and went over to my bedroom mirror to examine myself. There is only one way I can think of to describe how I looked right now.

I looked horrible. my hair was a mess, my cloths were soaking wet, my mascara was running, and my eyes were red from crying. I could see that I was shaking, which must have been caused by either my crying, or the coldness of the rain

I did what little I could do to clean myself up, hanging up my wet hoodie and cleaning my face. After that, I turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep. Maybe there was some solace to be found in the comfort of my dreams.

As I was falling asleep, the only sound that occupied the house was the sound of the pitter patter from the rain. I was cold, sad, and angry as I lied under my cover, but I soon feel asleep. With one thought that was haunting my mind.

"I messed up."

**Author's Note: Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all had a great time with family and stuff. Also, things do not look good for Laney. Review if you want, I really appreciate it, and have an amazing day**


	7. Chapter 7

***Laney's Pov***

It was Thursday night, and I was in my bedroom listening to music while finishing some homework. The past few days have not been easy at all. I spent most of it ignoring the band and I hadn't showed up for band practice at all this week. I wasn't as active at home either now, I just did homework, ate, talked sometimes and slept. Man, talk about pathetic.

Corey and the twins have been trying to contact me by phone, but I ignored them and turned off my phone so that I wasn't tempted to answer them. School was the hardest part, in the classes I had with them, I would sit as far away as possible, and during lunch I would sit somewhere that they wouldn't see me. It was hard, but I couldn't talk to Corey after what I said to him. All I can do is wait.

I still couldn't believe myself for what I did. I told Corey that I hated him, and I basically quit the band. To top it all off, I even threw our friendship necklace at the ground and ran away from him. Why would I do something so stupid? At least the necklace didn't break.

I had to find some way to fix this, this was my fault, I let my emotions control me. But how was I going to fix it? I needed help, but from who? I could ask my parents, but how could they help. No, not them, but who than?

I kept on thinking, narrowing down my choices, until I finally thought of someone that might be able to help. I got up from my bed and went to my drawer, taking out a piece of paper and pencil. I couldn't just talk to them about it at anytime, I had to take a different approach. When I finished the letter, I put it into my backpack and went back to sleep.

Maybe I can fix this, or I might make this even worse to the point of being unfixable. No pressure, right?

**-At Peaceville High School**-

***Larry's Pov***

It was before slightly before noon and 2nd Period had just ended. We had just been dismissed to lunch. The girls immediately went to the cafeteria, as I went to my locker to put away some books and take out different ones. Man, school can be such a drag sometimes. It's a good thing I had my band in most of my classes to talk to, and the fact that it was Friday today.

As I opened my locker, I noticed something lying on top of my books. It seemed to be a letter, I picked it up and examined it. on the front it read, "From Laney." Strange, why did she put this letter in my locker. Curious to find out, I opened it and began to read.

_Dear Larry,_

_I messed up, I told Corey how I feel about him and he said he didn't know how he felt, I got angry at him and I yelled at him, saying that I hate him and that I never want to talk to him again. After that I ran away from him before he could explain anything. I really need your help, can we talk today after school in town, around 4:00? I would really appreciate it. I want to fix this, but I don't know how, and you're the only person who I could think of who might be able to help._

_Sincerely, Laney._

I put the letter away and started heading to the cafeteria.

I had been wondering about how things were going to work out between Laney and Corey, but I never would have thought that they would get into a fight over it. Anyways, I had to do something. As much as I hate to admit it, I felt sorry for Laney, I knew how it felt.

Question was, exactly how can I help? I barely know either one of them. If I really am Laney's only option, then this situation must be more dire then I thought initially.

Great. Now I'm involved in all of this stupid teenage drama.

***Corey's Pov***

I was sitting at a table, waiting for the twins and thinking about the recent events. About the events that transpired a couple nights ago. When Laney told me that she loved me and I just froze up like a complete idiot. She had every right to be mad at me.

I looked down at the necklace in my hand. The necklace I gave Laney. The words that she said to me were still ringing in my head. Those painful words.

"I hate you, Corey Riffen!"

I had never seen her that mad, at least, not at me. I would have gone after her, but before I could, it started raining. If I had chased after her, I would have just been running blindly, with hopes that I would get lucky in finding her. So instead, my only option was to pick up the necklace and return home. Now I'm just trying to talk to her, but apparently that's too hard , seeing as how she's ignoring me.

As I was thinking, the twins arrived with their packed lunches. "Do you guys see Laney today?" I asked the twins. The twins took a quick look around before shaking their heads.

"What happened anyway? When we left on Sunday , everything was cool, and now Laney is ignoring us. Did you do something to make her mad?" Kin asked.

"It complicated, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," I said.

"Well, whatever it is, you need to fix it. The band hasn't practiced together in nearly five days. I'm starting to forget what our band name is." Kin said, hopefully joking.

"Don't you think that I'm trying to fix it! It's not exactly as easy as 'I'm sorry.' So shut up," I said. Kin looked mad at me, but didn't say anything else. We sat in angry silence.

"Hey, is that Laney? Guys, I think I see Laney." We heard Kon say, breaking the tension. Kin and I turned to face where Kon was looking, but when we looked, we were disappointed to see that it wasn't Laney at all. It was Larry.

"Bro, that's Larry. I'm pretty sure that last time I saw Laney, she was a girl," Kin said.

I continued watching Larry, and soon realized that he was approaching our table. Great, what did he want? I really wasn't in the mood to have to deal with a Newman right now. Especially the gender opposite of Laney.

"Hey, Larry. What do you want?" I asked as I got up from my seat.

My answer came shortly, not by words, but by his fist colliding with my face.

This can't be good.

**Author's Note: First off, thank you all so much for reading, you're all awesome. Second, sorry this chapter took longer than usual. Lots of lessons and tests are being jammed into classes before the semester is over and before mid-terms start. So, review if you would like to, I always appreciate it, and have a wonderful day.**


	8. Chapter 8

***Corey's Pov***

The force of Larry's fist made me stumble back and clutch the side of my face. "Larry, what the heck was that for!?" I yelled.

Larry didn't answer and instead charged at me, going in for another hit, but I quickly dodged out of the way of him. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you!?" I yelled out in frustration.

People were already starting to notice and were starting to crowd around us. Wow, could this week get any worse? I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, and it's not even my fault!

"I don't have to explain myself to you, I'm just here to beat some sense into you," Larry said, whatever he meant by that. Larry tried to punch me again, but I moved out of the way and delivered a punch to his stomach. By now people were chanting "Fight!" repeatedly. If we were going to fight, I guess I might as well fight back. Hopefully this won't last long.

***Kin's Pov***

Okay, maybe the past few days have been a little weird. First, Laney won't respond to the band's messages and won't come to band practice. Second, Corey refuses to fill me and Kon in on anything, and now, Larry just came up to Corey and punched him. What's next, I fall into a coma and Kon forms his own new band or something?

I could tell this was effecting Kon more than me, he didn't like the fact that Corey and Laney were having issues, and that Laney was ignoring us. We had never been in a situation like this, and we didn't know what to do. Hopefully this all resolves itself, sooner than later.

Kon and I were watching Corey and Larry fight. We wanted to do something, but we also didn't want to get involved in the fight, so we only watched with the rest of the people.

"Why are Corey and Larry fighting?" I heard a voice near me say, over all the noise in the cafeteria. I turned to see who's voice it was, it was familiar.

To my surprise, it was Laney. Where has she been?

"Laney, can you explain to me what is going on?" I asked, hoping to get informed on all of this.

"I'll tell you sometime, when this is all over. Right now, I can't tell you," Laney said. Well if that isn't the best answer of all time, I don't know what is.

I continued watching the fight. I could tell that neither one of them was holding back. I would not like to be in a fight with either one of them, that's for sure.

When I looked back at where Laney was, she was already gone. How did she leave without me noticing? Great, the one time she's back, she's only back for a minute, and its during a fight too. Just wonderful.

***Corey's Pov***

The fight was lasting longer than I would have thought, it had been going on for a few minutes now and I wanted it to end. My head had started to hurt, I felt like I could pass out at any moment right now. But that's when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, more precisely, someone.

It was Laney, at least I thought it looked like Laney, and she was walking away. Did she see the fight? Has she been here the whole time? Is she still mad at me? If I hadn't been in the middle of a fight, I would have gone after her.

I was only able to think about this for a short time though, before I had to focus back on Larry.

Larry threw another punch at me. I tried to block this time, but it seemed to do very little to help me. I lost some of my balance from it too, making me stumble backwards. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to recover as Larry threw another punch. When his fist hit, it hit the side of my face. And before I knew it, everything went dark.

**-At The Principal's Office-**

***Larry's Pov***

I was waiting in the main office with Corey. He woke up not long after the fight, and was sitting in the chair next to me. He looked like he was still a bit dazed.

I didn't mean to knock him unconscious, I thought the fight would have been stopped sooner than it had been, by an administrator or someone. I might have gone a bit too far.

After the fight, everyone was told to return to their lunch and we were escorted, or in Corey's case, carried to the main office and were told to wait for a punishment.

We were sitting in silence until Corey decided to start up a conversation. "So, Larry. If you don't mind me asking. Why did you want to fight?"

"If I told you, it could put everything at risk." I couldn't just tell him that Laney told me everything that happened. If I did, he might resent Laney for it. "Anyway, sorry for provoking you to fight," I said, apologizing to him.

Corey smiled and sat up in his chair. "It's alright, it's not the craziest thing that has happened this week," he said. Wow, was he really accepting my apology. I'm surprised that he's this forgiving, especially since our bands are rivals.

"Last thing we need is a physical rivalry between us," Corey said. After that, we continued waiting to be let out back to our classes.

Our punishment wasn't that bad, we just had to have some anger management classes together to resolve our issues, thankfully there were no house calls or detention. If my parents found out about this, they would undoubtedly ground me, and then I wouldn't be able to hang out with my band.

When the end of the school day had arrived. I went to talk to my band to make an excuse for having to be late to band practice.

"Hey, Larr. We saw the fight that happened between you and Corey. Why did you want to fight him?" Carrie asked.

"Oh man, It was so awesome! You were completely beating him, he had no chance at all!" Konnie said.

"As cool as it was. Why did you fight him? Did he make you angry or something?" Kim said, repeating the question.

"I just wanted to fight him. I felt annoyed at the moment. Besides, I'm sure he'll do something to deserve it eventually," I said. I couldn't tell the band anything about the current situation, so I had to make up an excuse to cover for myself.

They seemed unsatisfied with the answer, but they still accepted it anyways.

"Also, I'm going to be slightly late for band practice today. I have some homework I have to do before anything else. Is that alright?" I asked, so that I could buy myself some time to go into town.

"Yeah. It's no big deal. Just remember not to be too late," Carrie said.

"Don't worry about it, Care. It won't take long. I promise," I said.

After that was done, I started my walk into town to meet up with Laney.


	9. Chapter 9

***Laney's Pov***

Larry and I were in town, walking around aimlessly. We kept quiet for a while as I was thinking of where to start the conversation.

"So, Larry. Mind telling me why you fought Corey?" I asked. I was really mad about what I saw happen in the cafeteria today. How dare he just hurt Corey like that.

"Does is matter? What's done is done. It's not like I can undo it," Larry said.

"Of course it matters. I don't like seeing my friends get hurt like that. You had no place in this to pick a fight with him. So I'll ask again. Why did you fight Corey?" I asked.

"Ugh. Honestly, I not completely certain. I guess I let my anger control me too. You deserved a better answer then what he gave," he said. "At least Carrie gave me an answer when I asked her."

"Wait, you like Carrie? Is that why you're helping me?" I asked. Larry and Carrie, huh? Weird. I would have never guessed that.

"Like I said before, I know what you're going through. I love Carrie, just like you love Corey. I was always afraid to confess too," he explained.

"When I finally did tell her, she said she didn't want to risk our friendship, and that she wasn't ready for a relationship yet," he said. At this point, I was paying close attention. This was getting interesting.

"At first, I was furious. I overreacted and quit the band. They tried so hard to get me back into the band and I was too stubborn to see. It showed me how much they care, and how stupidly I reacted. When I returned, I apologized to them for quitting for no reason, it was the stupidest thing I had ever done. I could have lost my friends, my band, and the girl I loved, but I got lucky."

I was surprised that Larry had gone through all this by himself, without anyone's help. Still, there was something I didn't understand.

"How?" I asked. "How can you stand it? Now that she knows your secret. Isn't it difficult between you two now? doesn't it make you mad?"

Larry paused and looked at me. "I guess that was the hardest part. I care about my band a lot, not just Carrie. Kim and Konnie too. I would do anything for their happiness," Larry said, now having my complete attention.

"I convinced myself that if I was with Carrie, she would be happier. But that was selfish of me. Some relationship isn't what makes her happy. Music and her friends are what make her happy, and I'm fortunate enough to be a part of both of those things." He finished saying.

"But tell me Laney. How much do they care about you?" Larry asked.

How much did they care? They cared, didn't they? Did they care about me, or just about me being in the band? Was I their friend, or was I just the bands bassist? The scariest part was that I couldn't answer this with complete confidence. Did they or did they not?

"Check your phone," Larry said.

Immediately, I remembered that I had turned off my phone a few days ago. I checked my phone to find messages from my band from the past few days. There were messages asking if I was okay, why I didn't show up to practice, and if I was mad at them.

Three messages stood out from them all though. They were sent from Kin, Kon and Corey. The three messages were the same, and they were sent today, not too long ago.

"Band practice is still happening today. Please be there. We miss you." They read.

I checked the time on my phone. It was 4:30, I still had time to make it to band practice.

Before I left, I gave Larry a hug. "Thank you for helping me, thank you so much," I said. To my surprise and slight discomfort, Larry hugged back a little.

We kept the hug short since we were still rivals. I broke the hug and started heading to Corey's house.

"Don't screw it up again, I don't want to have to take time out of my day just to bail you out!" I heard Larry shout. Leave it to him to be annoying at the last minute.

Still. I was really thankful that he was there to help me through this. Maybe the Newmans weren't that bad after all. Yeah, try getting me to say that in public.

I felt a little bad for leaving Larry by himself like that, but this was really important. I was getting a second chance to fix things. I have been selfish this whole time. Even if Corey doesn't feel the same way I do about him, he is still my friend. A friend that I can't afford to lose.

I should also remember to apologize to my parents and the twins, I had been ignoring them too. I wouldn't be surprised if they were mad at me. I had no reason to act the way I have been to them.

Seems like things are starting to look up. And who knows, maybe this can work out between us. There is still the chance that he does feel the same way.

Wish me luck. I might need it.

**Author's Note: Happy late holidays and New Year everyone. I should be getting back to updating more often now, so that's good. Review if you feel like doing so, and have a nice day**


	10. Chapter 10

***Laney's Pov***

I arrived at Corey's house, tired from running. This time I took a minute to catch my breath. I didn't know what was waiting behind the garage door, then again, there's a lot of thing I don't know. I took a deep breath before I flung open the garage door.

I immediately saw the three boys. It seemed like they weren't doing anything, except maybe waiting for me. "Hey guys, I-," I said, before I was interrupted by Kin and Kon running towards me and hugging me, almost knocking the wind out of me.

"We missed you Laney, where have you been?!" Kin said.

"Please don't leave us again!" Kon begged while tightening his hold on me.

"I'm sorry guys, and don't worry, I'm not going anywhere soon," I said reassuring the two. I finished the hug and looked at Corey. I was wondering why he didn't say anything or react, he looked really nervous. I wanted to talk to him, but not in front of the twins.

"So guys, aren't we going to practice today, or are we just going to spend the whole day apologizing to each other?" I said. All of us quickly got to our instruments and started playing.

We played exceptionally bad today, we were all lacking in skill from practice withdraw and we were playing out of sync with one another. Corey seemed to be doing the worst out of all of us today, he was just randomly spacing out and playing the wrong keys a lot.

Although practice wasn't that good, it was still practice. We would be back to normal in a few days.

Practice ended around 7:00 today since it was a weekday. After practice, the twins and I started packing up since it was already getting late. The twins left before I did, waving goodbye. Before I went home, I knew I had to clear something up.

"Core," I said, snapping Corey out of his thoughts. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I acted, and that I hope we can go back to the way it was before that, as friends."

Corey put down his guitar and walked over to me. "I should be the one apologizing. I'm so sorry Lanes. I hope you can forgive me," Corey said.

"Of course Core, how could I stay mad at you," I said, accepting his apology. I went over to grab my bag and bass to go home.

"Wait, Lanes. Before you go, I have something to give you," Corey said, stopping me from leaving.

Corey reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver necklace, my silver necklace, and handed it to me.

"You... you held onto it for me? Even after I yelled at you the way I did?" I asked, astonished by this.

"Of course I did, Lanes. Don't you remember?" He said as he pulled out his necklace from under his shirt. "Best Friends Forever," he said.

I held the pendant and looked at the words inscribed. "Best Friends Forever C.R. and L.P."

Before I could stop myself, I started crying and ran over and embraced Corey. "I'm so sorry, Corey. I've been so stupid. I don't deserve a friend like you," I said, in between sobs.

"It's okay, Lanes. Please don't cry," he said as he hugged back and stroked my hair to comfort me. We held the hug for a while until I stopped crying. I was happy to know that everything was going to be just fine. After that, I left to go home for the night.

When I arrived home, I apologized to my parents for acting so distant lately. They seemed to understand. My parents and I also talked for a little bit after that.

"So tell me, Laney. How did things work out between you and Corey?" My mom asked.

"He says he's still unsure about how he feels. But you know what? I'm okay with that," I said, genuinely meaning it.

"That's the Laney I like to see," my mom said while reaching forward for a hug.

"Well he better figure it out soon, no daughter of mine is going to wait for five years just to get asked out," my dad said jokingly.

"Says the guy who looked like he was going to throw up when he asked out his crush," my mom said. We all laughed, it was always funny taking to them. When we were done talking, I went to my room and got ready for sleep.

I feel asleep peacefully that night. It was the first in a long time.

**-Two Days Later-**

***Corey's Pov***

It was Sunday afternoon and I was in the park with Laney again. The twins had to go home early today, something about having to do chores or else they wouldn't get Super Pizza Sunday.

The past few days had been kind of awkward between me and Laney still. I guess that was to be expected.

Lately, I have been having even more trouble talking to her, and even looking at her. I still needed time to figure out how I felt about her, Hopefully I can come up with a good answer soon. I didn't want to rush myself or else I might make a bad decision.

The park was still as beautiful as it was last week. Only difference was that this time, I was less willing to play the games we played last week, that would be really awkward. Right? Another thing was that today, the sky was pretty clear of clouds.

Laney and I were walking on the path of the park. As we were walking, I noticed a man just up ahead. He was wearing a black hoodie, gloves, and slightly ripped, blue jeans. His hood was covering most of his face. If you ask me, this guy looked dangerous.

Worst part about it. He was walking straight towards us, without any sign of hesitation. He couldn't be a bad guy, right? He was probably just cold or something or maybe he didn't like people looking at him. Heck, sometimes it's annoying to be stared at.

When we got to where he was, the man stopped and pulled out a pocket knife. "Okay you brats, hand over what you got!" The mugger demanded.

So much for just being cold.

**Author's Note: Just when it looked like everything was resolved, it turns out that the story's still not over yet, there is still some thing the need to happen. So review if you would like to, I really appreciate it, and have an awesome day.**


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